inferiority complex
by auslly-is-adorkable
Summary: Ross and Riker get in a fight over their lives and careers. Oneshot.


It's the start of the new year. You know, 'new year, new me' and all that. But the same old habits.

It was the middle of a band rehearsal, and Ross was stopping to text every five minutes. Or he'd mumble his lines and let his guitar slide a little around his body while he checked something. Whatever the excuse, he kept doing it. "If I can't be wighthguufjgms..." he'd slur. He would miss a chord or play a sharp instead of a flat as he rushed to answer the little device calling his name from his pocket.

"Ross, gotta focus," Riker would say sternly.

Ross would look at his older brother like he had forgotten he was there and nod apologetically while he finished up and sent a text. He'd get back to his position in centre stage and begin strumming where they left off. He'd bob his head and begin to get really in to the music, then:

Bzzzz.

And he'd try to ignore it. But he was eager, so he'd run to where he had placed it on the amplifier. "Ross," Riker would scold, frustrated.

"Come on, dude," Rocky would say, laughing to hide his annoyance. Rydel and Ellington would just sit in the back and exchange glances, chuckling at the others and making faces at each other as they always did.

"Sorry, last time, I swear," Ross promises, making a scene of him putting his iPhone in sleep mode. And they get back to work. And there are no more disruptions. But as his phone continually lights up and blackens, Rydel senses Ross's impatience and is waiting for it. Rocky is too, because they share a worried look as they finish If I Can't be With You. Then in the silence, the screen lights up and dings and in one quick stride the device is in Ross's hands.

"Oh my God," Riker yells, anger dripping from his voice.

"Sorry, man," Ross says without looking up. "It's Laura." He quickly responds to his message, smirking at it.

"Of _course_ it is," is all Riker replies with, taking his guitar off and setting it down. Ross looks up, taken aback by the hostility in his brother's voice. "What is that supposed to mean?" he demands.

"Nothing." He sips his bottle of water theatrically.

"No, what do you mean." The others step away from their instruments and group together in a corner.

"I mean you're always talking to her. Always. Like it's the only way you'll survive. You have to. It's ridiculous."

"Excuse me, but are you forgetting the fact that I'm never with her except for on set? And that I'm still generally with you guys during that down time?" Ross yells. "Other than you guys, she's my best friend. What kind of shitty person would I be to never talk to my best friend?"

"You have a career, Ross. You need to act like it," Riker shouts.

"I'm also an actor! That's part of my career! I'm sorry you gave up acting to boss us around! But that's not my fault and you need to start giving recognition to that aspect of my career." Rocky and Ellington stare bug-eyed at the guys while Rydel sighs, disappointed.

"I've been nothing but supportive of your acting career! Don't you recall Teen Beach Movie? I practically ran the street team for that stupid movie."

"No," Ross laughs dryly. "You practically ran the street team for 'Raia'. You didn't give a shit about the movie, don't pretend that you did." He runs a hand roughly through his hair. "You were more than willing to promote us and tweet about the soundtrack. In every interview, it's all 'I want him to be with Maia'!"

"You'd look good with Maia," Riker counters adamantly.

"Have you ever considered that maybe I don't want to be with her? Do you just ignore the fact that she's in a relationship and is really happy? Have you considered that maybe I want to be with Laura?" Riker scowls. "Or maybe you just want me to like her because when you were my age you were hopelessly devoted to Diana. But she didn't like you back did she? That's why we have a song about it. You want me to crush on an older costar so I feel what you did. You want me to suffer. Is that it? I don't want to be miserable like you," he screams.

There's a chorus of gasps from the peanut gallery and Riker just stares at his younger brother, his expression one of betrayal and disgust. "Only you would be so self-absorbed to think I'd try to ruin your life, Ross. All I was saying is that you text her too much. Case closed." He turns to the others. "Let's finish early," he says absently. Ross just chuckles sarcastically as the others pack up. Riker turns around, aggravated. "What," he spits.

"Nothing," Ross shrugs nonchalantly. "It's just funny that you think you reserve the right to boss me around the way you boss everyone else around."

"I don't boss you around!"

"Really? You tell me who I can text, when I can text, who I can date, when I can go to work. You try to control me. That's being bossy. Last I checked, you weren't Dad," Ross fumes.

"I'm not controlling you or who you date," Riker yells.

"Riker, the only reason I haven't asked Laura out is because of you and your painfully evident distaste for her! I'm trying to keep my worlds at peace but you always have a problem with everything. I can't even tweet about my show without you grumbling for an hour!"

"Because," Riker reasons harshly. "Your name is ross_R5_ not rossAustinandAlly!"

"Yeah," Ross agrees. "It's _ross_R5. Not rikerslittlebitchR5! I'm my own person dammit." And with that he stomps out of the room and to his own, glad his parents weren't home to hear that.

* * *

There's a small knock on the door and he stirs awake, momentarily dazed by the darkness. "Mm?" he mumbles, sitting up.

"It's me," Mark says from the other side. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," he replies. He turns on this side table lamp as his dad enters and closes the door. "What's up?" He stretches, earning an exasperated yawn.

"I heard you and Riker had a falling out today," Mark says quietly, sitting on Ryland's unoccupied bed. He squints as his eyes adjust to the lighting.

Ross sighs as all the memories from a few hours before rush back mercilessly. "Yeah. Sort of," he says.

"Sort of?" Mark repeats, unconvinced.

"Well it was worse than a 'falling out'," he explains. "It's like, if I wasn't related, I probably would have done something stupid like quit the band."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. I said a lot of things I really shouldn't have, but sometimes it feels like he only cares about the band, and obviously I have to prioritize. I'm pretty sure the show isn't going to go past this season now because of the tour. I love doing it because I'm with my family. But the people I work with are my family too. And it feels like he doesn't get that." He sighs.

"Riker knows that Austin & Ally is important to you," Mark reasons. "Besides, he's pretty mad at himself for things he said too."

"I feel like he will always try to control me and I don't want that. I want to be an equal, not inferior, Dad."

"Ross, Riker has upwards of four years of life experience. It's a man's instinct to pass down knowledge. I did it to my brother. Granted he is only a year younger," Mark explains.

"You did?" Ross asks.

"Yep. I pushed him away. And he didn't try to come back. I thought I was better and he hated me for it, Eventually we just stopped talking. It took me twelve years to fix things. I don't want to see that happen with you two. Your mother and I didn't raise you to give up. Obviously you and him need to talk. And you need to do some thinking." He stands up and heads for the door and stops. "For what it's worth, I wouldn't have let you quit the band anyway," he adds, leaving.

Ross stares at the bed absently. His dad was right. But he was still so frustrated. He didn't want to talk to Riker now. So he laid down and went back to sleep.

* * *

Riker is beyond angry, but not just at Ross. He's mad at himself because he didn't realize he's been that ignorant about Ross's life. And maybe what he said was a little true - he kind of wanted to see Ross go through heartbreak before he found happiness. Besides, he's the only one in the band without someone right now. Even Rydel had this thing with Ell that they weren't sharing. Rocky had Alexa. Ry had Savannah. It just sort of made him mad that Ross has two girls there, one totally single, both exceptionally beautiful.  
He's mad that he's mad, because he shouldn't be. He doesn't have any right to be jealous of his little brother. He knows he has to apologize, but he doesn't know how.

The opportunity presents itself when he makes the bad decision to enter the kitchen while Ross is making himself a sandwich. He looks up from his bread as he layers the ham and averts his eyes as he sees Riker. "Hey," Riker says calmly, walking past him to the fridge.

"Hey," Ross answers.

Riker sits across from his brother at the kitchen island and takes a deep breath. "Look," he says. "I'm really sorry about everything. I shouldn't be such a crap brother. I didn't realize I was."

Ross sighs and puts the knife down, staring at the counter. "You're not a crap brother. You're great. It's just that you don't seem very supportive right now of my acting career and it isn't fair because I've _always_ been supportive of you. And I'm sorry too," he adds. "I shouldn't have said what I said."

"You were sort of right, though," Riker says solemnly. "I guess I did want you to know how it feels, liking someone you can't have. Everything in life is practically handed to you and I guess I didn't want to see love given to you too." He sips his Coke.

"What do you mean everything is handed to me?" Ross asks, sitting across from him as he finishes making his sandwich.

"You hardly try," Riker explains. "You made Austin & Ally with one callback, and TBM called _you_ and _asked _you to audition. You're the lead of the band. You get everything. It just pisses me off a little."

"Riker," Ross laughs in disbelief. "All my life I've looked up to you and Rocky. Mostly you though because you're so much older. You helped me with homework and encouraged me as much as Mom and Dad did." He takes a bite and continues, earning a grimace from Riker, as well as a chuckle. "It's because of you I'm even in this performing business. I'd probably..." he stops to chew. "I'd probably be on a boys' hockey team at Ryland's school. I didn't really recognize this as my calling until you got in to it. I thought it was awesome. In fact, _I _was jealous of you growing up, because you had girls before me, more luck with agents before me. I wanted to be like _you_."

Riker puts his head in his hands and sighs. "I'm sorry. I am. You have to understand that growing up next to you while you were put in the Disney spotlight was hard. And now you're in magazines, a movie, a show, a band. You're a big star now. R5 is getting big but it's because of you."

"It's because of the show that you don't give credit to," Ross counters evenly. "It's not because of me. Laura, Raini and Calum are as much a part of the show as me. Without them, no show. No show, less fame for R5."

"I know. I promise I'll be more accepting from now on. And I'll be more supportive of you and the show. I'll even tweet Laura." He grins.

"Does this mean you ship 'Raura'?" Ross laughs.

"Nope," Riker says. "I still think you and Maia are cute. I'll sink with the ship if it comes to it. But Laura is great and you'd be lucky to have her. And you're right. Maia is in a relationship. But dude," he says lowly. "I mean, me and Lucy, _nawimsayin_?" He winks and Ross bursts in to a fit of laughter.

"I ship it," Ross breathes unevenly, tears starting to spill from his giggles. He relaxes and looks at his older brother seriously. "I'm sorry, man," he says.

"Me too." And as if on cue, they some do uncoordinated brotherly fist pound thing and grin. As Ross finishes his sandwich, Rocky and Rydel come in.

"Awh," she says, gushing.

"That was by far the cheesiest thing in the whole damn world," Rocky says, his face twisted in mock disgust.

"Shut up, Rocky," the others say in unison.

"I'm just saying," he says defensively, laughing with the others.

"So I heard you're going to ask Laura out," Rydel says abruptly to Ross.

"Uh, I didn't say that," he retorts.

"You implied it."

He looks at her quizzically. "Okay, sure."

"Great," she says clapping her hands together. "Backyard or beach?"

"What?"

"When you get married," she explains. "Backyard or beach?"

Rocky and Riker start laughing hysterically once more as Ross yells, "Rydel," and frantically chases her out of the kitchen.

* * *

The end. Not my favourite, but I really wanted to write something with Riker in it, as sort of a confrontation for the way he seems to treat anyone who likes Raura or Austin & Ally. Of course, this is just a fictional story and in no way represents the actual feelings of Riker, Ross or anyone else.


End file.
